Framed Photo. Last Christmas, I gave my uncle and aunt and grandma a framed photo of the extended family. The photo was professionally shot by our photographer at our wedding. Everyone looked their best and the backdrop was beautiful. And the gift was a big hit. A framed photo may sound cliche-ish, but it’s special because it’s a one-of-a-kind gift, that you won’t find in any store or mall.

How to Do It. Bigger photos make a bigger impact. You can find budget frames at Ross, Marshalls, Aaron Brothers, or any other discount retailer. Develop your photo at Costco or Walgreens.

Personalized Blanket. My sis-in-law gifted me with a beautiful fleece blanket personalized in my name. I don’t know about you, but if you have an uncommon name like mine, it’s nice to see your name on something! Fleece blankets are lightweight but super warm. I still use mine. I was so inspired that I made this for two of my close friends and my in-laws. And they loved it. My in-laws thought that I got it professionally done at a store.

How to Do It. You can find low cost fleece blankets at Walgreens, Target, Walmart, Ross, and almost anywhere. Then get a contrasting colored piece of felt from a craft store. Cut out the letters and hand stitch onto the blanket. I do have to warn you that this takes a lot of time. I timed myself and it took me 5 hours to cut out 6 letters and stitch one blanket. Maybe I’m a slow stitcher but I was watching TV at the same time.

Create Your Own Gift Set or Gift Basket. Last year, my budget was really tight. I put together my own Japanese gift set for some of my relatives. It was a serving tray with 2 Japanese bowls, 2 pairs of chopsticks, and a sushi eraser. Very cute.

How to Do It. If you live near a Japanese dollar store like Daiso or Ichibankan (in San Francisco), take full advantage of it. The Japanese dollar store has so many low cost, attractive items – anything from dinnerware to storage containers. Put together things that go together, like a dinnerware set, food items (like a bag of coffee with a mug) or storage accessories. If you don’t live near a Japanese dollar store, try Chinatown, Target, Walmart, Ross, or Marshalls.

Baked Goods. Who doesn’t like homemade goodies? Just be sure that your giftee doesn’t have any food allergies to any of the ingredients. Freshly baked chocolate chip cookies, rice crispy treats, or bread make great gifts. It shows that you took the time to make something special.

How to Do It. Search online for recipes. See my food blog, YummySF, for a low sugar chocolate chip recipe. Pack your baked goods in a decorative container such as a glass jar or coffee tin. I’m a big fan of tins since they keep baked goods fresh for a long time.

If you still haven’t started Christmas shopping, it’s not too late! This past weekend, we went Christmas shopping. We are not fond of going to the mall. The fights over the limited parking spaces and the crowds are not fun.

We decided to go to Costco. They have extended hours so we went 2 hours before closing. The parking lot was almost full and there were crowds. Somehow it seems easier to deal with than the mall. Maybe all of the free food samples and the lure of low cost gifts make Costco a more friendly place to shop.

Every time I have gone Christmas shopping here, I have always found the perfect gift for everyone on my list and at great prices. This was no exception. I found great gifts for 5 people within an hour! Amazing! And if you’re hungry when you’re shopping, the $1.50 hot dog and drink won’t kill your wallet either.

Every Christmas season, Costco has these wonderful $20 – $25 gift baskets for practically anyone. Here are some gift baskets that we bought:

- Coffee and Kahlua set: 1 bag of SF Bay coffee, 1 bottle of Kahlua, 1 large glass French press, 1 box of butterfly cookies (The French press alone is $20 elsewhere.)
- Max Brennar fondue set: white chocolate chips, dark chocolate chips, 2 tubes of marshmallows, 1 tube of candied apples, 2 fondue burning sets, and a storage tin

The gift baskets are carefully put together for a maximum wow factor. They look more expensive than they actually are. In fact, if you bought each of these items separately, they would cost a lot more.

I also like the assortment of gift baskets and ideas. There’s something for the coffee lover, chocolate lover, wine lover, etc. It’s not hard to find something that will please anyone on your gift list. Hope this helps you!

It has all of the features of the iPhone, even looks like one, without the phone! You can play with all of the fun apps and still use it to go online. You just have to use Wi-Fi or wireless Internet to go online, like at home or at a coffee shop.  Most coffee shops, with the exception of Starbucks, offer free wireless Internet.

Not only does it have iTunes, but you get a calendar, email, web browser, and endless apps.

The amount of apps (applications) available increases everyday. There’s an app for just about anything. Some apps are free while others start at 99 cents. Mint.com has a great app for keeping track of finances on the go. Urban Spoon has a fun app for those times when you can’t decide on which restaurant to go to. Just shake your iPod Touch and just like a slot machine, it spins and selects a restaurant in your area. There’s even an app to keep track of wedding planning. Plus, there are plenty of game apps to keep you entertained.

This cracks me up. The iPod Touch has a feature where you can pretend that it’s a phone. You can program it so that your iPod Touch rings at a predetermined time, making it look like you’re getting a phone call. LOL! No, I’m not kidding. This feature is great for blind dates or getting out of meetings.

Our friends who have an iPhone have said that it isn’t really a good phone since it has poor reception.  I’m not trying to bash on the iPhone, but that was another reason why we didn’t get the iPhone.

There are 3 versions of the iPod Touch with different amounts storage space – 8 GB, 32 GB, and 64 GB. My husband has the 8 GB iPod Touch and is happy with it.

I know that this is a personal finance blog, but I only recommend products that I really believe in. Purchases made through the link to Best Buy support this blog.

If you are debt free and have always wanted an iPhone, why not consider the iPod Touch for yourself or for a loved one? If you are in credit card debt, wait until you pay off everything before being tempted to purchase this! Make it a reward after you pay off everything. =)

Where to Buy:

Best Buy is offering a Free $30 Gift Card with Any iPod touch®. Valid 12/13-12/19.

*Order by 12/16/09 and shipping is 99 cents!

If you have an iPhone or iPod Touch, what is your fave app?

With so many cell phone carriers competing for your business, which one is right for you? For some, price, reliability and cell coverage are the top priorities. For others, the phone that comes with the cell phone plan is more important! Whether it’s the BlackBerry® Tour™ or the Palm Pre, your dream phone may lead you to your next cell phone plan.

What’s the best way to compare cell phones and cell phone plans? Why not let a website do the legwork? LetsTalk.com helps you compare cell phones with user reviews as well as cell phone plans and carriers. Have you ever gotten a phone that you thought you liked only to find out that it has a weak signal and people can barely hear you? What’s the point of having a cell phone that you can’t really talk on?

Shop for phones with more confidence by using user reviews to help you make your decision. I depend on user reviews to make purchasing decisions. Reading other people’s experiences before buying a product helps me know what to expect and to make the right choice.

LetsTalk.com represents major carriers – AT&T, Verizon, Sprint, and T-Mobile. Compare all the Major Cell Phone Carrier Calling Plans at LetsTalk.com and find the best Cell Phone Plan to fit Your Needs

LetsTalk.com Receive 5% off the entire shopping cart up to $25 on LetsTalk.com. Use coupon code ‘holiday’ Expires 01/28/10.

Purchases made through LetsTalk.com help support Living Richly on a Budget.

Who is your favorite cell phone carrier?

Subscribe to email newsletters or mailings.

This is the lazy way of finding deals. Have them delivered to you! I subscribe to Macys.com and from time to time I get the friends and family 25% savings pass. Totally worth it! If you purchase something from a store by credit card or online, you’ll also get onto their mailing list. Recently, I got some coupons in the mail for Old Navy, Gap, and Banana Republic.

Search on Google for coupon code.

Every time I purchase something online, right before I click to complete my order, I always do a Google search for a coupon code. 4 out of 5 times I find a coupon code and save money. It only takes a few seconds. Just do a search for “[company name] coupon”, for example: “Old Navy coupon”. Google will search all of the coupon sites to find coupons. When selecting a coupon to use, pay attention to the expiration date. You may come across some expired coupons. Also, don’t be afraid to try using more than one coupon code. Sometimes it works. Yesterday, I got $10 off from a coupon I got in the mail and searched online for a free shipping code. I was able to combine the coupons for a savings of $17!

Do you have any tips to add?

It might seem like a great gift idea, to give someone a shiny plastic prepaid debit card for the holidays. It’s almost like giving someone a credit card that they don’t have to pay. But don’t! At least until you read my reasons.

My husband received 2 debit cards from his work, one from Visa and the other from American Express. It was nice to get these but as we soon found out, it became a pain to use. Also, not too many businesses take American Express so I had to be strategic about it.

1. Activation Fee. When you purchase a debit gift card, you have to pay an activation fee anywhere between $3 – $10. So if you are buying a $100 giftcard and the activation fee is $5.95, then you would pay $105.95 for the $100 giftcard. That’s  a rip-off. I mean the debit card companies are already making about 3% of the purchase, everytime the card is swiped. Do they really need more?

2. Can’t Use for Online Purchases. At first, I thought we could use the debit gift cards online. But no, you cannot use them online because businesses have no way of verifying your identity with a debit card, since there is no address or personal information connected with the debit gift card.

3. Must Keep Track of Current Balance. When you spend the debit gift card, you have to keep track of the remaining balance, the exact amount. Your gift card can only be charged for the current balance or under. If you use the card for a purchase that is more than what is on your debit gift card, your card will be declined. So if you want to use it to buy something and you don’t have enough money on the debit gift card, then you’ll have to pay the difference with another form of payment. It’s such a hassle! You’ll have to ask if the business accepts 2 forms of payment.

4. Restricted Usage at Restaurants. We used our Visa debit gift card at a restaurant and boy, were we in for a surprise. We had dinner with a group of friends and when the bill came, we put the debit gift card to pay our portion. Our server spent 10 minutes trying to figure out why she couldn’t charge our card even though this was the first time we used it. The restaurant was not able to charge the entire amount on the gift card. It was a $100 gift card and our server said that they were only allowed to charge up to $80 on the card. When you use a card at a restaurant, the debit card company will only allow you to charge up to 80% on your gift card, leaving room for tip. We were able to use the rest of the debit gift card by placing the rest of the amount $20 as tip. Confusing, huh? I was just happy to be able to use the entire card at one place.

Debit gift cards come with special rules for the user. I am thankful that we got these gift cards but it did require some strategy on how to use them best. I was able to use the American Express debit gift card at Costco and Trader Joe’s.

If you really want to give someone a gift, why not give cash? Cash is easy to use and always accepted. It doesn’t come with special rules or restrictions like debit gift cards do.

Real Simple (1-year) subscription is only $5 from Amazon.com until December 1! That’s the price for one issue of Real Simple magazine at the newsstand!

Real Simple is one of my favorite magazines featuring articles on how to organize, declutter, make gourmet dishes simply, and helpful tips on a variety of topics. Also, keeping with the “real simple” theme, the magazine has a smaller amount of ads than most magazines. What more could you ask for?

This amazing deal for a one year subscription to Real Simple ends on December 1. Order your subscription for $5 and it’s eligible for free shipping with purchases over $25.

Other magazines that are part of this $5 subscription deal - PEOPLE, Cosmopolitan, Food & Wine, SmartMoney, Southern Living, Popular Science, and others.

Check out Real Simple’s Month of Easy Dinner Recipes.

Here are my picks for Foodie Gifts under $25. What is a “foodie”? According to dictionary.com a foodie is “a person keenly interested in food, esp. in eating or cooking.”

If you have someone on your holiday gift list who loves food, and chances are you do, check out my list of awesome gifts on my food blog YummySF.com. I found these cool cooking tools and kitchen appliances that look like they cost more than they do.

Christian PF offers an important article on how to survive a financial crisis: 12 tips for married couples.

My Money Blog shares about a Coinstar promo: get $10 more with $40 in coins.

CNN Money shows us how to 3 ways to save on health insurance.

MoneyNing offers tips on how to save money on cruises.

2. Extended Warranty. Every time I have bought an extended warranty coverage, I have never used it. I wished I had saved that money instead! Stores make a good profit when they sell extended warranties because most people don’t cash in on the coverage. According to Consumer Reports, the profit margin for extended warranties is 40 to 80 percent! Usually, if a product fails, it will happen early on and will be covered by the manufacture’s warranty. If you are afraid of products breaking down, put aside some money into an account for repairs. You can also try talking to customer service to get the warranty extended if the item broke down close to the end of the manufacture’s warranty. Recently, our clothes dryer broke down a little over a year after we bought it. My husband talked to customer service and was able to get our warranty extended. They repaired the dryer for free.

3. Overbuying in Bulk. When shopping at warehouse clubs, it’s easy to overbuy. I find it a waste to buy produce in bulk because I can never finish it before it spoils. Now, I just stick to buying only things I will definitely use and will have room to store. It’s easy to get carried away buying things in bulk and at a good price. But if you have so much bulk stuff in your home that you have no room to walk and no room to store anything in the fridge, is it really worth it?

4. Buying Things You Don’t Use. This used to happen to me a lot. I would buy things that I thought I would use and end up not using them or only using them once. It’s worse when some of these things are not even opened. Why? Sometimes when we buy stuff, we buy them impulsively without thinking… Do I have room for this? Will I really use it? If you don’t have room to store new things, they may end up being lost and then you really won’t use them. Seeing this was a wake up call. That’s where a lot of my money went. Some of this stuff I have already sold on eBay or Craigslist.

5. Abandoned Hobby. A lot of us have a dream of taking on a particular hobby. But for some, buying the accessories for their hobby is more of a joy than participating in the hobby itself. Photography is a good example and lots of people want to take great pictures. It’s a common misunderstanding that all you have to do to take great pictures is to buy a professional camera. After spending hundreds, if not thousands of dollars on a professional camera, they don’t know how to use it or don’t have the passion to learn how to. Instead they keep focusing on buying  the next lens or accessory, because in their mind, if they get the best equipment, it will help them take better pictures. When in reality, in order to take great photos it takes skill and lots of practice.

Don’t spend hundreds or thousands of dollars before you realize that you are not truly passionate about a hobby. Take a class or try out the hobby with a friend who owns the equipment. See if you have the passion, then buy the needed equipment.

For me, my dream was to sew my own clothes on a sewing machine. I had this dream since I was a kid. So in college, I took a sewing class and used the school’s sewing machine and my grandma’s machine at home. It was fun to learn how to use a sewing machine but it was really frustrating to make a piece of clothing. I didn’t enjoy it nearly as much as I thought I would.